Billions spent on Alzheimer's research show beginnings of payoff

Two new tests that could one day predict whether someone will develop Alzheimer's disease years before symptoms develop could level the playing field when it comes to treating it.

The new tests are just two areas of Alzheimer's disease research being conducted across the world.

Billions of dollars from public and private sources are spent each year on areas ranging from clinical trials of new medication to studies about how healthy lifestyle choices may affect the progression of the disease.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that $527 million will be spent on Alzheimer's research this year. Over the last four years, the NIH has spent about $2 billion on Alzheimer's research.

Some of that money has gone to the University of Pittsburgh, where researchers have been working for more than a decade to develop a radioactive compound that would bind to beta-amyloid proteins and show up in a positron emission tomography, or PET, scan of a patient's brain. Beta-amyloid protein builds up in the Alzheimer's patient's brain, disrupting cell communication and touching off a chain reaction that leads to brain cell death.

One of the project's lead researchers, William Klunk, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neurology, said the implications for the use of Pittsburgh Compound B are far-reaching when it comes to changing the way Alzheimer's disease is treated.

"Based on our research, we think Alzheimer's disease actually starts 10 years before any symptoms present," Dr. Klunk said. "If we give the disease a 10-year head start, how will we ever catch up?"

Both Pittsburgh Compound B PET scans, which could be on the market within two years, and a spinal fluid test developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania that is now commercially available also detect beta-amyloid protein in people who have mild cognitive impairment.

Not all people with mild cognitive impairment - defined as noticeable problems with memory, language or brain function that does not interfere with the ability to live normally - go on to develop Alzheimer's. But many do, Dr. Klunk and other experts say, enough that PET scans and spinal taps could help identify people at risk for the disease.

"If I told you you had mild cognitive impairment, you'd want to know if you're going to get Alzheimer's," Dr. Klunk said. "We're not sure yet if all people who have (beta-amyloid in the brain) will develop Alzheimer's. We haven't studied enough people for enough time to say for sure."

Other research right now is focusing on the genetics of Alzheimer's and on developing drugs that could stop the progression of the disease or even reverse symptoms.

But even if researchers can develop ways to diagnose the disease before symptoms surface, experts said there is still a long way to go before a cure is found. All five drugs on the market today to treat Alzheimer's focus on slowing the progression of the disease, said Susan Scanland, a certified gerontological nurse practitioner and nationally known Alzheimer's expert based in Clarks Summit.

"There's more than one thing going on in the brain of an Alzheimer's patient, which makes it difficult to develop a cure," she said. "The best we can do right now is be aggressive about diagnosis and treatment."

Because of that, one of the more exciting studies coming out in the last few years has been one that focuses on the link between Alzheimer's and the patient's overall health.

Researchers in Lille, France, spent two years studying more than 800 patients with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, including many who also suffered from other health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Participants in the study were given memory tests at specific intervals to track the Alzheimer's disease progression. What researchers found, Ms. Scanland said, was patients who were treated for both Alzheimer's and other health problems did better on memory tests as the study continued than those who only got treatment for Alzheimer's.

Doctors do not always focus on an Alzheimer's patient's other health problems, Ms. Scanland said. But the study from France showed that it might be worthwhile to do so.

"Treating both the Alzheimer's and the other health problems won't reverse the progression, but it certainly can help," Ms. Scanland said. "I think there's a lot of families and doctors out there that aren't aware of this study and what it found."

Contact the writer: enissley@timesshamrock.com

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